I have been listening to dhamma talks on the internet, reading some of the suttas and meditating on and off for a few months now but haven't put forth any effort to make spiritual friends. I am beginning to understand what the Buddha meant when he told Ananada that kalyana-mitta is not half but the WHOLE of the holy life.

It would be nice for others to help point out where I might be going off track since I know now that sometimes my own seemingly good ideas don't always work out as intended. Also I have noticed more and more that "regular" friends tend to pull me away from the path and, whether or not it's their intention, into desire, ill-will and delusion. Not only this, but my own unenlightened attempts to help others out of their trouble sometimes not only doesn't work but gets me in trouble too!

So here I am, looking for spiritual friends. I am sure that I will learn a lot here and hopefully others will benefit from me too.

With Metta,

Guy

Four types of letting go:

1) Giving; expecting nothing back in return2) Throwing things away3) Contentment; wanting to be here, not wanting to be anywhere else4) "Teflon Mind"; having a mind which doesn't accumulate things

Welcome GuyWe're all practicing the path as best we can according to our understanding, our kamma and merits. Take your time to read and participate in the discussion threads and this will be your best guide, here at Dhamma Wheel, where and who to approach for something more suited to your particular situation. Dhamma Wheel is a pretty friendly and fairly relaxed environment and I hope it meets at least some of your needds.Metta

Ben

“No lists of things to be done. The day providential to itself. The hour. There is no later. This is later. All things of grace and beauty such that one holds them to one's heart have a common provenance in pain. Their birth in grief and ashes.” - Cormac McCarthy, The Road

Learn this from the waters:in mountain clefts and chasms,loud gush the streamlets,but great rivers flow silently.- Sutta Nipata 3.725

MMK23 wrote:So many ostrayuns! Greetings from Brisbane, the biggest country town in the world.

And Logan City has just become the most multi-cultural city in the world. 170 to 190 different ethnic groups. Go Queensland! Go the banana-benders!

and Welcome Guy!! - you're lucky to be near Ajahn Brahmavamso and able to attend his teachings.

mettaChris

---The trouble is that you think you have time------Worry is the Interest, paid in advance, on a debt you may never owe------It's not what happens to you in life that is important ~ it's what you do with it ---

He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them. But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion … ...He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them … he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form.John Stuart Mill

A warm welcome to you too, Guy! Be it Down Under or India or US, we are all the same! As Asimov has said: "There are no nations! There is only humanity. And if we don't come to understand that right soon, there will be no nations, because there will be no humanity."